SONS OF THUNDER HG Ivatt’s pioneering main line diesels
THE breaking up of H G Ivatt’s Co-Co diesel-electric No. 10000, along with sister locomotive No. 10001 in 1968, was one of the most disastrous decisions in railway preservation history. They were the true pioneers of Britain’s main line diesel age, and if there was any justice in the world, No. 10000 would now be among the most treasured exhibits at the National Railway Museum (NRM).
Even when the locomotive, which emerged from Derby Works in December 1947, was offered to the Clapham Railway Museum after withdrawal in 1963, it was rejected on the predictable excuse of not enough room – but as for the unfathomable secondary reason that No. 10000 “didn’t represent a class” all I can say, tongue-in-cheek, is that neither did Locomotion No. 1 nor Rocket!
The 5P/5F twins were actually classified D16/1, but be that as it may No. 10000 was torched at Cashmore’s of Great Bridge, with No. 10001 suffering the same fate at the hands of Cox & Danks of
